Rapid subsurface warming and circulation changes of Antarctic coastal waters by poleward shifting winds
The southern hemisphere westerly winds have been strengthening and shifting poleward since the 1950s. This wind trend is projected to persist under continued anthropogenic forcing, but the impact of the changing winds on Antarctic coastal heat distribution remains poorly understood. Here we show tha...
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American Geophysical Union
2015
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1885/56321 |
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ftanucanberra:oai:digitalcollections.anu.edu.au:1885/56321 2023-05-15T13:56:44+02:00 Rapid subsurface warming and circulation changes of Antarctic coastal waters by poleward shifting winds Spence, J. Paul Griffies, S.M. England, Matthew Hogg, Andrew Saenko, O.A. Jourdain, Nicolas 2015-12-10T22:35:35Z http://hdl.handle.net/1885/56321 unknown American Geophysical Union 0094-8276 http://hdl.handle.net/1885/56321 Geophysical Research Letters Journal article 2015 ftanucanberra 2015-12-21T23:35:33Z The southern hemisphere westerly winds have been strengthening and shifting poleward since the 1950s. This wind trend is projected to persist under continued anthropogenic forcing, but the impact of the changing winds on Antarctic coastal heat distribution remains poorly understood. Here we show that a poleward wind shift at the latitudes of the Antarctic Peninsula can produce an intense warming of subsurface coastal waters that exceeds 2°C at 200-700 m depth. The model simulated warming results from a rapid advective heat flux induced by weakened near-shore Ekman pumping and is associated with weakened coastal currents. This analysis shows that anthropogenically induced wind changes can dramatically increase the temperature of ocean water at ice sheet grounding lines and at the base of floating ice shelves around Antarctica, with potentially significant ramifications for global sea level rise. Key Points Twenty-first century winds drive Antarctic coastal warming and circulation changes The winds cause coastal isotherms to shoal and weaken coastal currents Fine model grid resolution is required to represent the coastal Ekman dynamics Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Australian National University: ANU Digital Collections Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Australian National University: ANU Digital Collections |
op_collection_id |
ftanucanberra |
language |
unknown |
description |
The southern hemisphere westerly winds have been strengthening and shifting poleward since the 1950s. This wind trend is projected to persist under continued anthropogenic forcing, but the impact of the changing winds on Antarctic coastal heat distribution remains poorly understood. Here we show that a poleward wind shift at the latitudes of the Antarctic Peninsula can produce an intense warming of subsurface coastal waters that exceeds 2°C at 200-700 m depth. The model simulated warming results from a rapid advective heat flux induced by weakened near-shore Ekman pumping and is associated with weakened coastal currents. This analysis shows that anthropogenically induced wind changes can dramatically increase the temperature of ocean water at ice sheet grounding lines and at the base of floating ice shelves around Antarctica, with potentially significant ramifications for global sea level rise. Key Points Twenty-first century winds drive Antarctic coastal warming and circulation changes The winds cause coastal isotherms to shoal and weaken coastal currents Fine model grid resolution is required to represent the coastal Ekman dynamics |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Spence, J. Paul Griffies, S.M. England, Matthew Hogg, Andrew Saenko, O.A. Jourdain, Nicolas |
spellingShingle |
Spence, J. Paul Griffies, S.M. England, Matthew Hogg, Andrew Saenko, O.A. Jourdain, Nicolas Rapid subsurface warming and circulation changes of Antarctic coastal waters by poleward shifting winds |
author_facet |
Spence, J. Paul Griffies, S.M. England, Matthew Hogg, Andrew Saenko, O.A. Jourdain, Nicolas |
author_sort |
Spence, J. Paul |
title |
Rapid subsurface warming and circulation changes of Antarctic coastal waters by poleward shifting winds |
title_short |
Rapid subsurface warming and circulation changes of Antarctic coastal waters by poleward shifting winds |
title_full |
Rapid subsurface warming and circulation changes of Antarctic coastal waters by poleward shifting winds |
title_fullStr |
Rapid subsurface warming and circulation changes of Antarctic coastal waters by poleward shifting winds |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rapid subsurface warming and circulation changes of Antarctic coastal waters by poleward shifting winds |
title_sort |
rapid subsurface warming and circulation changes of antarctic coastal waters by poleward shifting winds |
publisher |
American Geophysical Union |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1885/56321 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelves |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelves |
op_source |
Geophysical Research Letters |
op_relation |
0094-8276 http://hdl.handle.net/1885/56321 |
_version_ |
1766264311138746368 |